Julian Ovenden in full voice for “Death Takes a Holiday.”2011 Joan Marcus

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Death has never seemed so delicious. In the Roundabout’s new musical, “Death Takes a Holiday,” the Grim Reaper takes human form — and he’s to die for. Eager to taste life, he shows up at a family’s country estate in the guise of the Russian Prince Sirki. He sings, seduces, dances — and kills. Mostly because he’s played by Julian Ovenden — that’s “Ah-ven-den,” with an Ahh! If this Maury Yeston musical, opening Thursday, was on Broadway instead of off, the 35-year-old would probably take a Tony.

As it happens, the royally connected Brit — more on that later — made his Broadway debut four years ago in the drama “Butley,” opposite Nathan Lane, who tells The Post that Ovenden is “a terrific actor and a sweetheart. He’s the whole package. He’s going to become a big star.”

Ovenden’s already a star in Britain, where he’s sung a slew of Sondheim shows, starred in the BBC’s “Foyle’s War” and made a steamy soda commercial.

“There was no singing involved in it,” he said the other day, moving a highchair out of the way in his cluttered SoHo sublet. “Just drinking Diet Coke and kissing some very attractive Portuguese film star. It was a hard day at the office!”

Boyish and bronzed, with a slight space between his front teeth, he looks like a younger, less bulky Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Playing Death becomes him. He sees Sirki as a mix of Rudolf Nureyev and the Nutcracker Prince.

“It’s been rather fun,” Ovenden says. “I’m surrounded by life all the time — my wife’s pregnant, we have a young son — and I wanted to play Death as someone who’s very curious as to what it is to be alive, to be human.”

The former St. Paul’s Cathedral choirboy took voice lessons and pursued music until “something” led him to drama school. He’s been working steadily ever since.

About a dozen years ago, his dad became priest to the Queen of England in Windsor. The royal family has been known to pop by his family’s home, next door to the church, after Christmas services.

“I’ve had some interesting conversations with some of the royal family,” Ovenden says discreetly. The high point was having tea with the queen mother to discuss her friend Noel Coward, whom Ovenden was preparing to play.

“She was 99 then,” he says. “I saw her six months after that, and she knew exactly who I was. She was an extraordinary woman.

“We’re a little jaundiced about the royals, though not so much after the wedding,” he continues. “My wife’s parents were here, and we all got up at 5 a.m. to watch it.”

For now, he’s thrilled to be in New York. As for life after “Death”: He’s recording an album of “adult pop music,” Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones hits from the ’60s and ’70s.

“When you sing, you can’t hide, or you shouldn’t,” he says. “I try to be as transparent as possible.”